Troops at the U.S. Border Receive an Extension

The deployment of United States troops to the border with Mexico is set to continue for another 45 days after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis signed the extension over the weekend.

The extension would keep some 4,000 troops at the border through the end of January to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection guard against thousands of migrants who have poured into Tijuana and attempted to overwhelm the agents on Nov. 25.

Another 1,600 troops who are currently at the border would go home.

The initial federal deployment was scheduled to end Dec. 15, but Mattis said previously that the deployment could be extended based on the situation at the border.

“That’ll be mission-dependent, situation-dependent if they need to be extended,” Mattis told reporters in November. “Some of those troops certainly will be home, I would anticipate they would be. But some troops may not be or some new troops may be assigned to new missions. But this is a dynamic situation.”

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, confirmed the proposed extension and said it refines the military support so that “it remains aligned with the current threat,” but declined to give details.

The troops at the border have played support roles for Border Patrol agents stretched thin by the current threat of thousands of fighting age males and a much smaller percentage of women and children attempting to barge into the country. Agents used tear gas to disperse the mob on Sunday.

The troops departing the border will include those who installed concertina wire and other obstacles to heighten the difficulty of crossing the border; those who will remain will continue to install and repair wire barriers and support Border Patrol agents. Some of the troops who are in Texas and Arizona are expected to shift to California as officials focus on the Tijuana area.